There are tens of thousands of orchid species and hundreds of thousands of hybrids coming from every single continent on earth, so it's impossible to really know which one you're talking about without photos / a name at least.

That said, in Malaysia, you probably had the plants hanging around in the trees with nothing around the roots, which is the way they like to be anyway in nature, with daily drenching. When potted in stuff (bark, moss), the moisture sticks around longer, so daily watering is usually not needed.

I don't know what orchid you have but it's probably a phalaenopsis, in which case if you're growing it properly, it should make a new spike if you cut the old one off...and if you haven't gotten the culture right, then you can leave as many old spikes as you'd like - it will not bloom again!

Yes phalaenopsis, forgot to mention. You're right about the number of species. My dad had many different species, but none of them grew on trees naturally. They were all cultivated like orchids here. All the orchids were either in the ground, or hanging in holey clay pots. The ones in clay pots were strung up or on flower stands in the yard. They were planted in some kind of bark medium, much like orchids here, but I don't remember seeing any peat in the mixture. Water flows through freely and the roots are exposed and dry out soon after.

Calvin, let me clarify what I think you said. For phalaenopsis, you are saying the spikes should be cut all the way to the base, and I should not leave them on the plant? Am I understanding what you said accurately?

Thanks,

Irene

I do not think the cutting/ not cutting spikes has much to do with your problem.
Forget about orchid culture in Malaysia it does not apply apply to California or even to here. The climates are very different.
I do not like your watering regime, those phals like to be warm and only dry a little bit before you water them again.
Suggest you try and find some complete culture notes written for California.
I've put some rather complicated notes in the link re. getting Phals to flower.

If you are interested in the eternal question re cutting of spikes, just do a search on this site. Put cutting Phal spike in the search to find.
Good luck and do not give up.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ on Flowering Phals.

This post was edited by arthurm on Mon, Nov 10, 14 at 1:12

Deleted Double post info.

This post was edited by arthurm on Mon, Nov 10, 14 at 1:14